58 Comments - Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 1:40 pm: WHY Why is there always something? I hope that they will be able to vote and then leave town. Hopefully, all of the overrides will pass. - J IL - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 1:42 pm: I don’t care what side of the tax fence you are one this behavior is absolutely disgusting and flat out embarrassing. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 1:42 pm: Just let the most vote already. Enough drama - Lt Guv - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 1:44 pm: People gotta get a grip. - LINK - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 1:45 pm: Hopefully, all will be well and safe. Thank you Rich for keeping us updated. Hope your site doesn’t crash… - Not It - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 1:47 pm: Word on the street (sidewalk outside the capitol) is that a woman threw a white powder into the governor’s office. Apparently she had been removed from the building earlier but returned. - J IL - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 1:54 pm: the audio/video feed from ilga.gov has crashed…great timing! - J IL - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 1:55 pm: Obviously this is hindsight now but this is why the override vote in the House should have taken place immediately following the Senate…way too much down time to let this stuff brew up and boil over. - DaBigBadWolf - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:07 pm: I hope the governor and his staff are all ok. - A State Employee Guy - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:08 pm: Hey UnionMan and ANONANON… maybe log off for a bit. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:12 pm: No elected official, staffer, public employee should fear the workplace due to rabid political ideology. My thoughts are now for the Rauner Staff, Crew, everyone working in the Governor’s Office. This is unacceptable - illini97 - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:15 pm: This is not OK, and should never be normalized. - LibertyvilleNick - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:18 pm: I often find a level of glee and arrogance of the members in Springfield around an income tax increase. No doubt, member salaries will now rise, and lets not forgot the corporate tax breaks, film production incentives and the boom of projects Quinn signed in to law before he left. - Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:20 pm: To quote my dad, who says this everyday while reading the newspaper, “what in the heck is wrong with people?” - W.S. Wolcott - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:24 pm: No excuse. As bad as things are here and with frustration at all time highs people need to take a breath. If you don’t like the outcome, don’t lose your cool - and/or your freedom. Set your sight on the next time the ballot box is open. No matter the party or the individual - this is not ok. - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:25 pm: I hope everyone is OK. This is why everyone needs to tone down the rhetoric. There is no way to know who will respond with action, where they will respond, or what they will do. - Valvino - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:26 pm: I hope none of the Reps get overheated outside. I would assume they are under an umbrella and drinking lots of water. - Mad Brown - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:30 pm: The blue room stream is very interesting today. Especially now with haz mat guys in governor’s office where the staffers have been hanging out giggling and such for the 30 minutes. - Redraider - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:32 pm: This has to end today, hopefully with an override and a chance for everyone to learn from this week. There have been many profiles in courage and in some conduct that is honestly beyond the pale. Hopefully the doomsday rhetoric and threats on both sides can end and we can figure out a way to move to the middle and solve our problems together. - Roadiepig - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:32 pm: Sorry Rich if I said something that has me in the “banned” list. Spellcheck has let me down more than once when posting via my phone - Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:34 pm: News headline “baby powder shuts down essential services imploding Illinois. How to protect your family at 10.” Hopefully it’s nothing but a goofy individual causing drama. Let’s get the vote over with already… going with the veto is a jon option and everyone knows it. The biggest issue is seriously considering reforms this year. - Mama - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:44 pm: I’m happy to hear they caught the person that shut down the capitol building. I hope that power is harmless. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:45 pm: This is childish. If you are infuriated over the tax increase / override of the veto go to the ballot boxes. The only reason I could see this is not because someone is against the veto, but trying to delay the override. Behaviors like this doesn’t solve much at all. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:45 pm: The next person who, even jokingly, tries to blame this on the governor will be banned for life. - J IL - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:45 pm: The powdery substance was thrown at/near the House gallery??? There’s children up there. What a sick bleeping beep. - Cubs in '16 - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:46 pm: ===It can be pretty easy to do to have fake attackers pretend to cause a security risk when the governor controls the first response teams.=== Another conspiracy theorist heard from. - Arock - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:46 pm: - Annois-ed with Illinois - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:41 pm:- Might be the most asinine comment I’ve seen. - JoanP - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:47 pm: This is just nuts. I’m not going to sit here and guess about the individual’s motivation because, in the long run, it doesn’t matter. Whatever the reason behind it, this sort of behavior is stupid and wrong and needs to stop. @Ducky LaMoore - “To quote my dad, who says this everyday while reading the newspaper, “what in the heck is wrong with people?” ” I say that a lot myself (often using a word a tad stronger than “heck”). I expect we could form a choir as large as the Mormon Tabernacle with folks who feel that way. - 37B - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:48 pm: Just when I thought I could not be more embarrassed to be a citizen of Illinois… - TinyDancer(FKASue) - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:51 pm: WGN reporting they never gaveled in. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:52 pm: All these theatrics and behaviors of individual citizens is just ridiculous. It’s not being done by somebody internal, it’s not being done by a “group”. It’s being done by a single individual who either wants attention or is mentally unstable. Hopefully the all clear is given and the drama can just stop for at least a little bit. - Wumpus - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:52 pm: The budget is as toxic as the environment. - Hexagon - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:53 pm: I’m really disturbed by this situation and the stupid twitter posts (on the right of this story) relating this to the political situation like that of Allen Skillicorn. There’s no place for tongue and check discussion of violence. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 2:57 pm: Agreed Hexago. there’s obviously an issue with not implementing strong reforms… however this is necessary and the continuation of team politics will just damage all citizens of Illinois - Norseman - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:10 pm: === The ventilation system has been turned back on at the Statehouse, so it may not be long before they get started again. === Definitely needed to keep things cool down there. - J IL - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:15 pm: I read in another article that one of the 15 Repubs is not at the House today. It was already a razor thin margin to begin with. Does this push it to a no-override? I have to believe that at least one more GOP will switch from yes to no but have no idea if that wll happen or not. - Finance101 - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:19 pm: Even if it’s flour, after the anthrax nonsense they’ll throw the book at you. Stupid stupid stupid. - Noname - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:19 pm: What a sad day for Illinois. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:21 pm: J IL I hope you’re wrong… it will not be good if they can’t override especially since this was a total veto etc - Anon221 - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:22 pm: From Monique’s tweet: “There’s a group of children in the House gallery on a field trip.” *** You always, always, treat a situation like this with the professionalism and caution that the first responders did today. Even if this turns out to be benign, why (I refrained to put that in caps) put children at risk (and left off the exclamation point)? Maybe those that stand aside and let rhetoric rise to vitriolic levels will stop and reflect. We should be working together, not tearing ourselves apart. - Roadiepig - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:23 pm: I understand Rich- Sorry, won’t happen again - Demoralized - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:24 pm: ==for suggesting that the Left== Tying “left” or “right” to any of this type of behavior is absurd. Tie it to crazy. - pete - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:26 pm: your all right there is no room for this violence. Fix it at the ballot box. Go Pritzker - Phil King - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:28 pm: ==Tying “left” or “right” to any of this type of behavior is absurd. Tie it to crazy.== I totally agree and I don’t think rhetoric is an excuse for the people who do this sort of thing. But the earlier post was a “bash IPI and the Right” party in the comments section. My point is simply that overheated rhetoric happens on both sides and it’s bad on both sides. In general, we should avoid attacking each others intentions and focus on different ideas instead. Most of the politicians on the Right and the Left are well meaning people who want the same thing: better lives for those whom they represent. They just disagree on how to make life better. - slick - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:30 pm: Absolutely insane and appalling behavior. - Allen D - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:31 pm: J IL — I hope you are correct, maybe more will not show or at least vote NO after all this craziness. - Yiddishcowboy - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:34 pm: I noticed my comment was removed about the Gov “controlling” ILSOS and Spfld Fire Dept. I was actually being sarcastic and not supportive of a previous comment made re how the Gov allegedly controls first responders. However, I failed to use the appropriate sign to denote sarcasm. My bad. Apologies. - Actual Red - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:34 pm: Phil King — I think you’re more or less right that the rhetoric is too heated overall. My fear is that there’s a sort of game theory that prevents people from cooling off. If one side paints issues as apocalyptic matters of life and death (which, too be fair, some issues are), its hard for their opponent to downplay the importance of their issues. Not sure what, if anything, can be done to address this. - Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 3:54 pm: Phil, With respect, Edgar, Rich Miller and many others have said for years that Rauner is holding social service providers hostage because he is. You can’t escape the human consequences of the Governor’s actions. - Mongo - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 4:15 pm: Allen Skillicorn embarrasses me and his House District. A “no” vote on this override sets the State back 30 years. Is that what he wants? - RNUG - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 4:16 pm: I’ve wrote and then deleted multiple drafts without posting, trying to find the right words. There were a couple of Old Testament scriptures I started to quote, but I was worried about violating Rich’s warning. I’m sure most of us know them … - RNUG - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 4:18 pm: == Not sure what, if anything, can be done to address this == A timeout for everyone? Maybe, if we get a budget today, everyone can do a reset. - wordslinger - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 4:26 pm: –Rep. Harris: 25,000 people are out of work because road projects have stopped– But that’s good for the economy, right? 25K out of work, crumbling roads? Because….. “reform?” re·form rəˈfôrm/ verb verb: reform; 3rd person present: reforms; past tense: reformed; past participle: reformed; gerund or present participle: reforming; verb: re-form; 3rd person present: re-forms; past tense: re-formed; past participle: re-formed; gerund or present participle: re-forming 1. make changes in (something, typically a social, political, or economic institution or practice) in order to improve it. - CharlieKratos - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 4:28 pm: RNUG, I think 2 Corinthians 11:25 pretty much covers how everyone feels after the last 2 and a half years. - Fiercely Independent - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 4:31 pm: The more I see of people, the more I like my dog… - RNUG - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 4:38 pm: -CharlieKratos- New Testament, but that works also. - Phil King - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 4:40 pm: ==Rauner is holding social service providers hostage== Please. Seriously. Cut it out. There’s no need to invoke violent images to make your point. Not agreeing to sign a tax increase unless the other side negotiates something you want in return is not the same as violently holding people against their will. It’s a Governor using his Constitutional powers to negotiate public policy. If you disagree with his policy, focus on that. - wordslinger - Thursday, Jul 6, 17 @ 5:21 pm: t: ==Rauner is holding social service providers hostage== Please. Seriously. Cut it out. There’s no need to invoke violent images to make your point.– You can’t be serious. Is it possible to be a historical revisionist while something is still going on? Hostages are the governor’s approved, public image of his strategy. No budget until he gets his “reforms,” whatever they are. Personally, by his actions, I’m certain he just wanted to put out of business through Social Darwinism all that he could. Squeeze the beast. Heard of it? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.